The Bizarre Story of TacoTime, Taco Time, and the “Take n’ Bake Crisp Burritos”

When is a Taco Time not a Taco Time? Quite often, as it turns out, and the difference is in a single character.

Did you know that the Taco Time fast-food chain in Seattle is a different restaurant than the Taco Time – or TacoTime – found in the rest of the country? I did not, but at some point, Taco Time decided to add a space to its name and divorce itself from the original TacoTime.

So, what happened?

By all accounts, TacoTime was founded in 1960 by one Ron Fraedrick. In 1962, Frank Tokin, Sr. opened the first franchised outlet in Whitewater, Washington, which expanded through Puget Sound until 1979. At that time, Tokin’s restaurants – now dubbed Taco Time Northwest – went independent. Set the never-used-in-marketing “Northwest” label aside and notice the space. TacoTime and Taco Time – two different restaurants altogether.¹

To this day, the menus have some crossover, but each chain has branched out to become its own thing. Going by their websites, neither acknowledges the other’s presence.

The dark icons represent Taco Time Northwest; the colored ones TacoTime OG. Check the two websites’ history pages, and you’ll see no mention of one another.

All this is to say that Taco Time – the subject of today’s post – has found a way to outmaneuver TacoTime. A signature item both offer is the Crisp Burrito, which Taco-space-Time now has taken to the next level: Available from their restaurants are the Take n’ Bake Crisp Burritos – four burritos; beef or pinto beans; prepared fresh-to-frozen; a cent shy of $13. Ten minutes in the Airfryer, and you ostensibly have the same thing you get prepared to order at the restaurant.

Hey, there are no excuses for dining on these Crisp Burritos like a monster. (These are the beef variety.)

Whether the Take n’ Bakes are good depends on your definition of the word. On the one hand, they are impressively similar to what you get served at the restaurant. The tortillas are crispier than I had expected, at least when Airfried. Sure, the meat’s mushy, but that, to me, is by design. It’s part of that Taco Time charm.

I’d be hard-pressed to argue that they’re objectively good, mind you. Subjectively, I get it – most fast food has a touch of nostalgia that brings a certain amount of enjoyment. And even with that, I’d argue the Take n’ Bakes are better than what you get from the restaurant. They feel less greasy, which I wager they genuinely are. Had they been frozen in the state they’reserved a la carte, they’d likely turn to mush after baking.

Say what you want about the Take n’ Bakes – they might actually be better than advertised. If that’s a good thing is up to the individual. Me? I enjoyed them just fine. And I don’t really have any issues with Crisp Burritos in general. Sure, they don’t compare to the good stuff, but a guilty pleasure is a pleasure nonetheless.

Taco Time Northwest. (2024, July 19). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taco_Time_Northwest

TacoTime. (2024, July 22). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TacoTime

Some of you might notice that the Digest popped up in the Substack app again. Long story short, the great Ghost-migration experiment has concluded, and while Substack has its issues, the good ultimately outweighs the bad. No shade at the Ghost publishing platform, but it didn’t quite work for me.

1. Imagine a world with McDonald’s and M.C. Donald’s. The mind boggles.